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On July 20, 2021, the Prime Minister attended a Liaison Meeting of the Government and Ruling Parties at the Prime Minister’s Office.

In the opening, the Prime Minister said,
 
 “In the massive landslides that occurred in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, ten people remain missing, and police, fire departments, Self-Defense Forces, the Japan Coast Guard, and other personnel continue to work hard in their search operations on the site. I visited the disaster area last week and realized the intensity of the mudslides. I also spoke directly with those affected by the disaster at a shelter. The Government and ruling parties intend to work as one to go all out to proceed with the search for missing people and the restoration of lifelines and to help residents and businesses to reconstruct daily lives and livelihoods with hope. In addition, we will boldly accelerate the strengthening of observations and the development of technologies to forecast the linear precipitation bands, which trigger heavy rain disasters almost every year, in order to strive to mitigate the damage.
 
The number of new infections of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has continued to rise in the Greater Tokyo Area, especially in Tokyo, and other areas. We are working closely with each local government to thoroughly implement measures against infections while proceeding with vaccinations. Although we retracted our requests regarding the suspension of alcohol trade, the requests caused anxiety and confusion among dining and drinking establishments as well as liquor wholesalers and retailers. We consider the matter highly regrettable, and the Cabinet as a whole will ensure the prevention of similar occurrences in the future. Moreover, as delays in the payment of cooperation money have been pointed out, we have introduced a scheme of advance payments, and we will strive to encourage dining and drinking establishments to meet our requests, including the shortening of business hours.
 
With regard to vaccines, the total number of doses administered exceeded 70 million, with over 80 percent of the elderly receiving their first dose and nearly 60 percent completing their second dose. Under these circumstances, the proportion of elderly to new infections in Tokyo stood at over 20 percent at one time, but it has dropped to around 4 percent. Despite the increasing number of new cases, patients with severe symptoms remain at the same level in number. As inoculations have progressed at a faster pace than expected, there were worries over the future vaccine supply, which caused inconvenience, including the suspension by some municipalities of accepting new reservations. Going forward, we will continue to deliver vaccines to local governments so that they can administer approximately 1.2 million doses per day, in addition to the daily administration of around 200,000 doses for workplace vaccination program. We intend to make every effort to keep swiftly sharing prospects for vaccine distribution with local governments and closely collaborating with them so that as many people as possible can receive inoculations at the earliest possible time. Aiming to complete vaccinations in October or November, we will proceed with administering vaccines as quickly as we can.
 
The opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games is three days away. We will give the highest priority to protecting the lives and health of the people and thoroughly carry out infection control measures, including border control measures for athletes and other people involved in the Games from overseas as well as testing and behavioral management after their entry to Japan. At the same time, we will do everything in our power in implementing security measures, including counter-terrorism measures. We will address issues while maintaining a high level of vigilance to the end in order to bring about the Games that are safe and secure. Therefore, I ask for your understanding and cooperation.
 
We will join forces with members of the ruling parties and take every step possible in making all-out efforts in preventing infections and speeding up vaccinations so as to restore our daily lives in which we can feel at ease as early as possible and build a robust economy toward the post-COVID-19 era. Hence, I would like to seek your continued cooperation.”